The Difference Is
by Monday's Child
Summary: Short standalone slushy CM fic set after TO After I Do written for the FB fanfic contest. Please R&R!


_This small stand-alone was written for the C&M fanfiction contest on Friends Boards, just like many others on popping up on here, lol. I personally was hugely disappointed with TO After I Do because I felt it didn't really pay as much attention to Monica and Chandler as I would have liked. It was supposed to be their wedding day! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did writing it! Oh, and I dedicate it to Monnie and Dani for no other reason than I love them :)_  
  


**The Difference Is (A continuation of 801 TO After I Do)**

  
  
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you Mon", Rachel looked down at her feet absently. Her brow was knitted together in a slight grimace of worry, but she seemed to be handling this so much better than Monica ever would have expected. "Phoebe only found out by accident... I knew I shouldn't have left that damned pregnancy test in the trash", she sighed "It was just so strange, it didn't seem real at all - I guess I wasn't thinking straight."  
  
"Oh honey", Monica whispered, reaching out and stroking Rachel's hair affectionately. "It's okay, that's really not what you need to be worrying about right now, you know?" She pulled her into a quick hug. "You've decided that you're happy about this, surely you need to be thinking about the baby now. Rach, you're gonna be a mom! Don't you go worrying about me."  
  
Rachel pulled away and looked at her best friend fondly. "Thankyou", she said simply and they grinned at each other, both in the midst of major shift in their lives and feeling wonderfully content.  
  
"I'm not interrupting a girly moment am I?", Monica felt warm breath on her neck, and experienced a moment of that familiar and intensely pleasant ache in her chest as her new husband stepped up behind her and casually slipped his arms around her waist.  
  
"Nope, you're okay - there will be no crying, shrieking or any other such feminine behaviour, you can breathe easy honey."   
  
Rachel grinned. "We're just loving Monica!"  
  
"Yes, yes we are - we're loving me!" Monica turned and looked up into Chandler's mischief filled eyes.  
  
"Oh good, can I join in? Because y'know... I kinda love Monica."  
  
"And I should hope so too." She playfully hit him on the arm as she berated him, swept up in the realization that she was a married woman. She no longer feared turning into the "Old Spinster Cook" Monica that her future husband had so innocently deemed her as whilst joking around in his usual manner. Chandler Bing was all hers and she loved every inch of him.  
  
And then his soft lips were brushing against hers and all hope of clinging onto a fragment of thought was lost. She acknowledged vaguely at the back of her mind that they were in a ballroom full of their family and friends, not alone in their apartment but she didn't care. This was her wedding day. And this was her husband. Remembering that she was in public was all she could do not to start jumping up and down on the spot with joy.  
  
There was just that one thing. That one little thing. Why wouldn't it leave her alone? So she'd learned that Chandler had a moment of panic and took off before the wedding. So? He was here now wasn't he? And he was happy now wasn't he?... Wasn't he?  
  
"Okay, you know what? I'm just gonna leave you guys to it." The kiss broke and Monica glanced over at Rachel who looked slightly embarrased. "Anyway, it's way past eleven... haven't you got a hot wedding night of passion to be getting to?" She winked at them and picked up her purse and glass of water, heading over to the other side of the room where Phoebe was trying to teach Joey how to play the spoons on his hand.  
  
"She makes a very good point Mon." Chandler ran his hands slowly up her down her slender back. "What do you say we make like tree's and... you know, leave?" She giggled softly. "Honey, that one's so old - you can't claim to have made up that one". she teased, refering to his much self publisised _Joke Journal_.  
  
He pulled her close again, resting his head on her shoulder so that his mouth was directly near her right ear. "I'm just tired of wanting you." A delicious shiver worked it's way up her spine as he gently sucked on the sensitive skin of her neck.  
  
"Mmm... so we're leaving then!" She broke the embrace and grabbed Chandler's hand, leading him behind her to the large double doors that served as the exit to the grand room.  
  
"Honey, shouldn't we at least say goodbye to our guests first?"  
  
"Most people have already left anyway, and loads of people are staying over in the rooms so they'll still be here tomorrow!"  
  
Chandler couldn't help but grin as she made her point. She was such a determined woman, nothing could stop her once she had something in her head. God, he loved that.  
  
From the corner of Monica's eye she saw a waving motion and glanced over to the table at her right where Phoebe, Rachel, Joey and Ross were seated and grinning at them.  
  
"Where are you guys going, huh?" Joey retorted knowingly. When it came to things like sex he was surprisingly intuative. She gave them a winning smile and purred "See you later all you unmarried people, me and my _husband_ have important business to tend to." She kept a firm grip on Chandler's hand and was nearly out of the room when she heard Joey's voice, "Hey man, bet you're glad you came back now! Go for it!" She knew that Joey was only joking, slightly drunk on champagne and completely oblivious anyway but the remark still stung. She'd managed a full five minutes without feeling that niggling worry, but here it was, back again. Bought on by Joey's innocent comment.   
  
Standing in the hotel foyer smiling at her new husband and gripping his hand she made a decision. She had to talk to him about this, she'd drive herself crazy if she didn't.  
  


* * *

  
  
Fiddling with the key to their honeymoon suite Chandler noticed that Monica was strangely quiet. For the past few hours she'd been bending everybody's ears within shot of her, as she always did when she was excited and happy. Now she seemed almost slightly troubled about something. He wasn't stupid, he knew exactly what it was all about - he'd cringed at Joey's comment as they left the ballroom. He knew that Joey had meant well but thinking about his exploits earlier in the day made him burn with shame, he had been hoping that Monica would never have to find out about his disappearing act but that was now the second time that it had been mentioned. In a way he was glad that she _had_ found out about it, she was his wife and he didn't want to have secrets from her, but at the same time he didn't want this to blemish their wedding night. He was desperate to show Monica how much he really loved her.  
  
"Wow", he couldn't help the exclamation from slipping him as he took in the sight of the beautiful, plush suite. The four poster bed was the main focal point of the room, huge and extravagant with rich looking drapes and rose petals strewn across the bedspread. There was a large bottle of champagne resting in an ice bucket next to the bed complete with two elegant flutes, and the walls were adorned with expensive looking framed paintings. "This is sure something..."  
  
When he didn't recieve a reply he sighed softly, the room no longer mattered that much. He turned to face Monica. "Honey, I think we need to talk don't we?"  
  
She looked at him with an almost comical amount of surprise at first but then managed to compose herself and moved in closer to kiss him gently. He revelled in the sudden show of affection and circled his arms around her, gripping her with the need that he got from that longing ache inside him. Too soon it was over and she sat on the edge of the bed, smoothing out the creases of her elegant wedding gown and patting the place next to her in indication for him to sit down.   
  
"So the nerves caught up with you did they?" she said, trying to make light of the situation. Here it was. "... Yeah", he shifted his body round so he was facing her, looking right into her beautiful face, a face that he loved more than anything in the world. "I'm so sorry Mon... I guess I got a little stupid and, well... Chandler for a while."  
  
"It's okay Chandler, I'm not angry with you... how can I be? You're here now aren't you?" She paused as she reached across to entwine her fingers with his. "I just... I just want to know _why_. What happened to scare you like that?"  
  
"I don't know... it was before we left for the rehearsal dinner, somebody rang and I uh, I heard your little message." He saw her cringe. "Goddamit, me and my big mouth!", she muttered staring down at their joined hands. "It freaked you out huh?"  
  
"Well it was like it just all of a sudden hit me, the enormity of it all. I kept thinking 'My God, I'm supposed to be getting _married_ tomorrow - _ME... Chandler Bing_. What Bing has ever been able to make marriage work?'... I'm telling you Mon, my parents aren't exactly the poster couple for wedded bliss are they? By the end of their marriage they despised each other, all I ever heard about during their arguments was how the other had", he raised his spare hand into quote marks, "... ruined their life." He shifted uncomfortably and Monica felt the grip on her hand tighten slightly. "It scared me to death to think that we might end up like them. You... you're the most important person to me in the whole world Monica. I'd rather be subjected to a lifetime of listening to Janice's voice than hurt you."  
  
She couldn't help but smile at his little joke even though her heart was pounding hard in her chest and she could feel the beginning of tears forming behind her eyes. "What makes you think that we'll ever end up that way? Honey, we're not your parents, the circumstances are entirely different. Infact, there are so many differences that you could lose count..."  
  
"I know but..."  
  
"... Please let me finish this." She whispered overlapping him and raising her free hand to press her index finger gently against his mouth. "Chandler... do I strike you as being the kind of person that would go through something like this if I wasn't _one hundred percent_ sure that this was right? Come on, I broke up with Richard because he didn't want to have children and I didn't see a future with him after that. With you I see the life that I've always wanted. And y'know we _can't_ know what's going to happen in the future and you really can't spend your time worrying about it. All I know is that I love you, I love you _so much_ and I can't ever imagine spending my life with anyone else."  
  
A serene silence filled the room and Chandler gaped at his wife, suffering from a slight loss of words. She laughed softly and kissed his cheek.  
  
"What it comes down to is that whether you like it or not we are meant to be with each other Chandler Bing. It feels like everything that's happened since we met all those years ago has just been leading up to this day... do you know what I mean?"  
  
He did. It was a feeling that he'd never had with any other woman but Monica. And suddenly he felt like he wanted to do his infamous _Chandler dance_ around the room. There was only one thing he could think of to say.  
  
_"I love you Monica Bing."_  
  
She grinned hugely, an exclamation that made her whole face light up and her blue eyes sparkle. "Good, I love me too - seems like we'll get along just fine. So, are we good? Can we make mad passionate husband/wife sex now?"  
  
"Sorry - let me check my diary, I might have other plans", he deadpanned back.  
  
Monica rolled her eyes and laughed softly under her breath. "You know your problem Chandler, you talk way too much." Within a couple of seconds she was in his arms, holding her lips close enough to him to feel his warmth and quick breathing. They'd kissed many times since becoming a married couple those few hours ago but this was the one that they knew they'd both remember in the years to come.  
  


* * *

  
  
The air was warm and still as the first rays of dawn began to break over the New York skyline. Chandler, laying awake squinted at the illuminated numbers on the clock next to him before shifting his position to lay his arm over Monica who was asleep and pressed up against him, smooth, warm and bare.   
  
_'It's true that many people don't manage to make marriage work'_, he thought. _'They rush into things, they lie about their feelings, they try to fool themselves into believing something.  
  
**But the difference is that we're not most people.'**_


End file.
